


Breeze in Monochrome Night

by EmbryonicHarmonic



Series: Raidou Vs Project Zero [1]
Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, Zero | Fatal Frame
Genre: Eye Horror, Gen, Implied Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, disturbing imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-04-17 19:34:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14196201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmbryonicHarmonic/pseuds/EmbryonicHarmonic
Summary: Following a lead from Tae, and orders from the Yatagarasu, Raidou and Gouto are sent to investigate Himuro Manor, where a family and another devil summoner have disappeared without a trace.Unfortunately, no case is ever so simple.





	1. The Missing

Raidou wasn’t about to say that it wasn’t often that his cases and Tae’s investigations overlapped, because that would be a lie. 

But sometimes things aligned in such a way that he was not entirely sure that she was not getting information directly from the Yatagarasu. Maybe she was immensely more focused and connected than he had ever anticipated. It was odd. Also it was not the point right now. A missing persons case that drew attention from both the summoning world and the mundane one, that was something troubling and the sort of thing that fell right into his line of expertise. 

_”My sources said this guy went missing around the Himuro Manor.”_

That was what actually lead him here, standing at the base of the stone steps in the setting sunlight. Or he assumed it was the setting light, he couldn’t easily tell through the thick tangle of forest that he and Gouto had trudged through to get here. Well, he had walked, Gouto had sat on his shoulder and made his usual sarcastic comments every time his cloak got caught on a twig. Which was another odd thing he had noticed. In such a pleasant spring, the greenery seemed to grow barren the closer he got to the manor. 

Staring up at the massive, darkened building, Raidou was starting to feel like there was definitely a supernatural reasoning for it. There was a heaviness that hung in the air that made his chest feel heavy. It was unpleasant at best. 

“So this is Himuro Manor.”

Gouto broke him out of his thoughts, and Raidou nodded once, slightly. He knew very little of the Himuro family. They were old money, old ways, and the Kuzunoha did not deal with them often, if at all. Then again, he did not know about many of the other families that his own had arrangements with, not unless they were vital to an investigation. And for this… well, he was in no hurry to actually speak to the main family. There was always some air of disdain when he did, as if he was sure the head of the family was looking down at him for daring to come home and leave his post. 

But that was a thought for another time, there was work to do. 

Raidou flicked one of the kuda tubes from its holster, pleasantly smiling at the Pixie before nodding and sending her on ahead. A quick, zipping light around the manor, checking in windows and doors for any signs of life, and there was only emptiness as an answer. Odd. A manor that, at last count, had been full of a family and now there was silence. There was a presence here, everyone could feel something, but to see no humans inside was disconcerting. Back into the kuda, once more tucked away into the holster, and Raidou finally ascended the stairs to the door.   
“You don’t have to knock, you know.” Gouto said, rolling his eyes as he sat next to the young man’s feet. Raidou would admit that he was occasionally too polite for his own good, but even a good summoner knocked first. 

After several minutes ticked by without an answer or any sign of life, Raidou pushed the doors open. 

The smell of wet wood and ashes hit him enough to make him flinch, bringing a hand to his mouth to cough once or twice before he regained his composure. Maybe he should have brought a lantern. The fading light that fell into the entryway before him only revealed damaged steps and a few knocked over objects, nothing of major importance. 

“Be careful.”

Raidou stepped inside, moving over the broken objects and into the main foyer. What should have been a warm, inviting area was cold and threatening. He could feel it, the presence of powerful and watchful spirits. He would have said it was empty, but there was no mistaking the feeling of the gathering eyes of the dead. If the summoner was still here, they were likely no more. That, in itself, was troublesome. Worrying, but also exactly not what he wanted to hear or know. It was now his turn to investigate what was going on, and what had actually happened. 

Of course, that was his line of reasoning right until the door behind the young man and his cat friend slammed shut. Instinctively, Raidou whipped around, striding to the doors and attempting to force them open, but they held firm. 

“Looks like we’re stuck in here until this all gets solved, Raidou.” Gouto said, definitely not admitting that his tail was looking a little puffy. And he claimed he was not a cat… 

The young man shook his head, eyes scanning around the foyer again for some sort of light source. One small search and assistance from a summoned Pyro Jack later, the pair were ready to investigate properly. Exactly what Raidou did best, if he was being harsh on himself. Talented summoner? Kind soul? Combat specialist? Nope, only good for looking for needles in haystacks. But being self-critical was not entirely helpful as he started searching through rooms, finding so little of importance that he did start to briefly wonder if he was losing his mind, or maybe this was some sad, sick joke being played on him.

That was until he moved into the next hallway and nearly choked on his very breath. 

The hallway was full of ropes. 

Just ropes, hanging from the ceiling beams to about waist length. There was nothing else tied to them. No charms, no talismans, nothing. It was so strange, so odd to see and so out of place that Raidou felt the sensation of dread creeping up his spine. Nothing good came from such a thing. 

The light shone through the ropes to something reflective at the end of the hall, and the young summoner steeled himself. 

“Nothing good comes from this… it’s freaky.” 

He couldn’t agree with the black cat more. 

Raidou took a deep breath and started walking forwards. His free hand reached out, moving ropes out of his immediate field of movement in an attempt to be respectful and not get tangled in such things. But the closer he got to the mirror, the colder the air around them seemed to get. 

He was not clear of the ropes when he was able to see the mirror fully, but he did stop moving. A mirror, a full-sized mirror, taller than him and as wide as the hallway itself. He couldn’t fathom how much such a thing cost, or why it was simply standing at the edge of the hall without any sort of protection or guard. It actually caused him to stop, simply starting at the mirror itself before noticing the reflection.

It was not him in the mirror. 

Raidou nearly dropped the lantern, silver-eyes staring at the image of a young woman in a white kimono, with ropes hanging from her limbs and throat. He took a step back, one arm raised to grasp one of the kuda, his mind rapidly filing through his roster to determine who would be best against the wandering dead. 

The spirit slowly drew out of the mirror, her reflection gaining shape, substance, an ethereal presence that made his throat go dry and his chest tighten. This was not the same as the spirits he had fought. The dead and the devils were not the same in the slightest. But she was powerful, he could feel it. The air crackled with electricity for a moment, and he could see her fully. Not just the woman in the kimono, bound by ropes, but a great, twisted amalgamation of maliciousness that loomed behind her. Heads, arms, voices, moaning in pain and fury. 

The ghost, and the malice, lunged at him with a horrific, unearthly shriek. 

There was a flash of green, so quick and so powerful that Raidou was nearly blinded by it himself, the Nebiros between himself and the dead standing firm. His instincts had been right, to fight the dead with devils. Nebiros made a vile hissing sound, and despite the moans from the malice, the ghost vanished. 

Raidou wasn’t even sure why his fingers were trembling, returning the pagan demon to his tube. The air was colder, and dread was growing in the pit of his stomach.   
He had to get to the bottom of this. 

There was no other option.


	2. The Rope Curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exploring deeper into Himuro Manor, Raidou finds that he is up against one powerful, malevolent creature.

It had been….

An hour? Maybe?

Time was difficult, but Raidou was almost sure it had been at least an hour since he had been attacked in what he was now calling the ‘Rope Hallway.’ At least, that was until he managed to find an outside walkway and discover it was well-past sundown. 

Gouto had suggested that time was skewed in this place, and Raidou was pretty ready to agree. This place was a massive twist of dead souls and some sort of corruption, which did not make any of this easier. No, it was really much more than just a summoner going missing. There was something much greater and much harsher at work and he was struggling to really put his finger on it. Raidou could not use magic, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of its presence. 

Still… he was grateful for his demons and devils. It made canvassing this massive place so much easier than if it was only himself and Gouto. 

By candlelight, Raidou had settled himself in what he was pretty sure had been a bedroom at one point, looking over some hand-written notes that Jack Frost and Alph had found for him, to his greatest gratitude. The history of the Himuro family was interesting, but he found himself trying to search more for what many, many papers described as ‘The Ritual.’ He had found some clues, but not the entire picture. 

The Ritual, as he knew it, required a young woman, chosen by something called Demon Tag, followed by a life of solitude and purity until it was time. Time for what, Raidou had not actually figured out. There was something about it that made him oddly homesick, the similarities between the Himuro and the Kuzunoha were just sharp enough that he felt a twinge of what he could only describe as homesickness, or maybe it was weakness. Maybe he was letting himself be something he was never allowed to be - a person. 

“You’re daydreaming.”

Gouto’s voice made him jump slightly, drawn out of his thoughts and back to the paper before him that he was reading. It was not entirely helpful, but he was trying. 

Raidou shook his head, trying to clear the haze from his mind as he tapped a finger on the page idly. It seemed like he was no closer to finding anything until something finally seemed to jump out at him. 

It seemed there was something hidden below the manor’s grounds. Something that was simply noted as ‘The Hell Gate.’

Rising from his place, with the lantern in hand, Raidou stepped out of room and into the hall. Perhaps if he could find one of the outer courtyards, he could gain his bearings and see if he could find where this mysterious and ominous gate was supposed to be. He had to try, that was his whole role here. Maybe that was why the other summoner had been sent, that this ‘Hell Gate’ was becoming more than just a problem. He didn’t think the Himuro were connected to summoners in any way, but maybe they were the supposed gatekeepers. Maybe. There were many things that he was not sure of. 

“Help me.”

The voice - one of a child - stopped him dead in his tracks. 

Fading into the light ahead of him was a young girl with long black hair in a white and gold kimono. One hand moved to Nebiros’ kuda, but he felt no malice in this spirit. No anger, no fury. Nothing like the corrupted monster he had seen before. No, there was almost a light, a soothing calmness that seemed to come from this one. He couldn’t let his guard down, the stakes were always too high, but it was somewhat refreshing to just… not be worried. 

“Set us free. Please. I’m begging you.”

Before Raidou could actually ask anything, the young girl vanished, and he felt the heaviness and the darkness seep in once again. Us. The family? The spirits of the dead? He wasn’t even sure. But this did make things both more interesting and much harder to deal with. He glanced to Gouto briefly before continuing on. 

Down the steps and out through an open door, a garden opened up to him. A stone well, deeply cared for bamboo, and the sound of a waterwheel. It was almost peaceful.

Raidou blinked, and for a moment he was sure that he was home. That the world was bright, things were okay, things were okay, things were--

He shook the thoughts from his mind. That was the past. The past meant nothing. He was not that child anymore. He was Raidou Kuzunoha the Fourteenth, and he had only one role. Anything else was useless. 

_\--Useless child-!_

He stepped forwards, lantern raised and shining what little light he could around the garden, trying to just… look, perhaps. Maybe even see if there was something useful. And there was, spots of red on the stone. Raidou stepped forwards carefully, setting the lantern on the edge of the well. He had a feeling he would need both hands, and probably the entire array of spirits. He edged his way into the bamboo, searching for where the blood lead, and unfortunately he found it. 

The body of the other summoner, or what was left of it. It looked like a murder, for sure. Limbs torn from his body. Blood and bone and flesh. Raidou stepped closer, moving to do what he did best: investigate. Every limb was inspected, finding rope marks on the wrists and ankles, and around the poor man’s neck. Even searching for the man’s spirits was fruitless, the kuda were cracked and broken, the demons were likely long gone, not that he could blame them. He was sure that even his own demons were only around still because he was there to reassure them that things would be okay. He’d already had to do it for Pyro Jack and Jack Frost. This manor was justifiably creepy to everyone involved. 

“Look out!”

He heard Gouto half a second before the ghastly visage of the dead summoner appeared, and Raidou vaulted himself from the cluster of bamboo with his usual grace and agility. Both heels touched the ground, and he flipped his cloak over his shoulders and drew his blade. The dead summoner moaned, rising from the thicket with dead eyes and a gaping, twisted maw. 

And… ropes dangling from his limbs. The spirit was in one piece, but the ropes… Just like in the Rope Hallway. 

“The ropes… The ropes…!”

The voice cut through him like an icy wind. He didn’t want to pry too hard into those words, but questioning something so twisted and so full of anger would get him nowhere. It would be best for everyone if he was able to put this creature to rest. It was what the poor victim deserved. 

And Raidou hoped that if it was ever him one day, that whoever was sent to put him down did it swiftly and humanely.

The ghost lunged, and Raidou twisted away. The air was so cold, and so thick with anger that it felt like a weight was starting to press on his chest. He backed up, taking several steps to gather whatever composure he could before he struck, green flames licking over the blade the moment it touched this twisted and horrific dead. A hand with a rope dangling from the wrist struck out at him, grasping at his shoulder and causing the arm to go numb. If he were a lesser man, it would have stopped him. But Raidou was Raidou, and he was not defeated so easily. Another swing, left handed and improvised. The garden lit up with a green light, and the spirit roared again.

“The ropes!! There’s more ROPES!”

Raidou struck again, cold and ruthless, without remorse. It was what he needed to be. The ropes… he knew they were some clue, but as he could feel the tingling of feeling returning to his fingers, he was not about to waste time trying to reason with the dead. It wasn’t like dealing with a demon. The dead could not be captured, and the dead could not be bargained with. What is, is what must be. 

“THE ROPES!”

The words, the voice, rang heavier and harder in his head as he brought the blade down in one solid motion, the green flickering lighting the night sky with such power before darkening again. 

Silence.

Raidou waited, closing his eyes and listening for any other movement. Any other sounds. No screaming. No shifting in the air. No coldness. 

He flexed his hand a few times, the tingling fading as his sensation of touch returned to him. No permanent damage, no worse for wear. All in all, he considered it a successful exorcism, more or less. He was relieved, he had discovered what happened to the other summoner. However, it was currently raising more questions than answers. He had so much more to look into. What was with the ropes? Or what was Demon Tag? And the Hell Gate was probably the larger, more pressing issue. 

Sheathing his weapon, Raidou moved back over to the well to pick up the lantern. 

“That was rough.”

Raidou had to agree. 

“Still… I wonder what happened. I am pretty sure he didn’t come in here with ropes all over him. It’s not like there’s any shortage of them around here too.”

He nodded, but he didn’t like where the idea was going. Raidou shook his head, starting to move back through the garden. The sounds of his shoes clicking on the stones split the silence, and it was enough to be rather… comforting for him. Dead, empty silence reminded him too much of his youth, of the hours he spent training, over and over, in nothing but silence. That was all he needed, something to split the silence, something to break the nothingness. 

He came to a stop before exactly what he did not expect to see: a large shrine. Larger than the Nameless Shrine. 

“Why the heck does a family need a private shrine this big?”

Raidou both wanted to know the answer and did not want to know the answer. It didn’t stop him from walking up the steps and pulling open the doors. 

He immediately regretted the decision.

The rope maiden, the woman in white with the malice flooding around her, floated before him. His body stiffened, and he felt like he couldn’t move. His eyes were locked on her, standing still with wide eyes as she slowly drifted closer to him. He could hear Gouto yelling, but his body would not move. His training seemed to have vanished, his mind blank as all he could do was stare at the woman as she grew closer. The voices, the moans and screams from the malice around her filled his ears and he could not move. The air grew icy cold around him to the point of seeing his breath, and he could not move. Even as his internal voice tried to scream, to move, to grab a kuda, anything, he could not move. 

Raidou sucked in a sharp breath, finally trying to jerk his arms from the door and feeling something pressing down on his limbs. Wide-eyed, he turned his head and saw dozens of white, ghastly hands holding him. Long arms that seemed to come from the very wood and steps of the shrine itself, slowly growing more and more visible as he found control of his limbs. The more he tried moving, the firmer he was held. His arms. His legs. His waist and torso. 

“Feel…”

His head snapped forwards. The woman was right in front of him.

“Feel my…”

Her hands raised, and he felt the color drain from his face. Her fingers dug into his cheeks and it hurt. The cold, numbness seeped into his jaws and it hurt. Her hands slid down to his throat and it hurt. 

“Feel my _PAIN_!”

Raidou felt the world falling away. Nothing was holding him. Nothing was touching him. There was no air in his lungs and only blackness around him. He tried to scream but there was no air. There was no noise. The pain in his body seemed to worsen, focusing sharp to five points. Wrists. Ankles. Neck. There was the sound of wooden cranks, of straining rope, of his body being pulled five ways. 

He couldn’t breathe. 

He couldn’t see. 

He couldn’t scream. 

Raidou’s eyes snapped open and he sat up with a start. His body was soaked in a cold sweat. He was gasping for air, struggling as if he had been drowning. His chest heaved, mouth open as if he was trying to recover as hard as he could. Was he dead? No, this definitely wasn’t some death. He was alive. He was very much alive. Somehow. He was sure it was over. His body did not want to respond as he tried to move further, the burst of adrenaline starting to fade away into the fatigue that usually followed. He just felt exhausted, his throat raw and his mind foggy. 

His eyes slowly traced down his body, checking himself for visible injuries. Nothing looked broken. Nothing looked bruised. No blood. That was… that…

Around his ankles were two lengths of rope, tied off and leading into nothing. 

Raidou’s breathing hitched, and when he blinked, they were gone. A shock of pain replaced them, and once he was able to gather use of his wrists, he pulled up one of his pant legs, unbuckling the garter for his sock and pushing the soft material down his slender skin to reveal a dark bruise where the rope had been.


	3. Demon Tag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raidou goes deeper into the manor, and grows closer to the mysterious Hell Gate.

To say Raidou was shaken was a slight understatement. 

Though he had picked himself up and was now wandering around a new branch of the manor, he found that he needed to stop and gather himself more often than before.

Gouto couldn’t blame him, coming face to face with a powerful and corrupted spirit was enough to rattle the best of them, and Raidou was indeed the best of them. This wasn’t going to break the young man, but he probably was going to need an extra day to compose himself when they got back to the agency. Narumi would probably insist on it, but the problem was always just keeping Raidou in one place and letting himself rest and recover. 

Ah, but the job of the 14th Raidou was never done. 

Finally sliding open a door that had been stuck rather stubbornly for a few minutes, Raidou sighed heavily before stepping inside. 

“Maybe you should take a minute and rest. It’s been two days.”

Raidou shook his head. And lamented that it had been two days. He was internally cursing himself, saying that he should have had this solved by now. That was what had been drilled into him, didn’t it? Quick, thorough, and perfect. He was not looking forwards to making this report to the Herald of Yatagarasu when he had to return to the Nameless Shrine. Maybe that was what he should do first, then he could find out if he was in some way tainted or corrupted, if the malice had changed him in any way.

He didn’t feel different. 

Aside from the mild pain he felt whenever he walked. That was its own problem, but not a detrimental one. Besides, Mov Shovu was currently floating behind him, doing whatever magic she did to keep him moving with minimal hindrance. He was grateful, every few steps the numbing of pain made this much easier on him. He hoped he didn’t have to run anytime soon, he wasn’t even sure a healing burst would make that easier on him. 

Right now, he was certain that he was cursed. And that if he did not solve what happened here, he would likely end up the way the other summoner did - in several pieces. 

Back to the room at hand, Raidou brought a hand up to rub his eyes and he moved inside. The lantern flickered as he set it down, letting the warm glow fill the room. And if he was honest, he needed as much warmth as the world would give him right now. And if he was selfish, he would have loved to just be home, in his little store room of a bedroom, curled up under a blanket and resting. 

But selfishness was sinful. He had no right to even think of such a thing. 

He picked up the first object that caught his eye, and he knew in some sick way, this was exactly not what he was looking for, and also exactly what he was looking for. 

It was a mask. A simple, half mask that would only cover the eyes, carved so smooth that Raidou had to make sure that it had not actually been sealed. But the largest and worst part were that two large wooden stakes were driven through the eyes, and it appeared that they had been fitted to the mask itself. They were supposed to be there. Turning the piece over, Raidou flinched at the faint smell of old blood. This had indeed been used, repeatedly, and not cleaned in the best ways. Maybe the Himuro family was significantly darker than he thought.

Not that the Kuzunoha were much better, but still.

“I wonder if this is part of that Demon Tag thing we read about.” 

Raidou was inclined to agree, holding onto the mask as he tried to look around the room a little more until he found some more notes. A good family kept detailed records, after all. Gouto hopped up on a cabinet, reading over the young man’s shoulder as he stood by lantern light to read. 

“The Demon Tag Ritual.”

Well, he was not going to stop Gouto from reading out loud.

“Young girls ages 7 to 9 are gathered at the Demon Mouth, and must hide from the Blinded Demon.” 

Raidou glanced at the mask again, frowning. 

“The one to stay hidden the longest, or to evade the Blinded Demon completely, must possess the most spiritual power. Once the ritual is over, the girl is removed, to spend the next ten years in preparation for the Strangling Ritual, to appease the Hell Gate.” 

He turned the page, feeling worse and worse about this entire ordeal. Spiritually powerful families did strange and harsh things, but this was far out of what he was used to, and outside of what he was sure would be anything close to what the Kuzunoha did. Raidou would admit that his own childhood was not superb, but to his knowledge no one in his family intentionally blinded someone and forced them to chase small children. 

“The Blinded Demon is a young woman who has undergone the Blinding Ritual. The Blinding Mask will be applied, piercing her eyes and rendering permanently blind and in agony. Her pain will allow her to seek out the children, and select the next Rope Shrine Maiden.” 

Raidou shook his head, putting the papers away after Gouto was done. He set the mask back down, shifting his weight to the next wave of pain relief from the exceptionally hard-working Mov Shovu. He swept one hand into his pocket, tossing a chakra chip to her, much to her delight. It wasn’t much, but Raidou had not been planning on this sort of excursion. Served him right, he’d have to do better next time. 

Live and learn, he supposed. 

Well, he had a few parts to the entire puzzle now, and that was its own reward. He knew about the presence of the Rope Shrine Maiden - or that was what he assumed the malicious spirit who cursed him was, it seemed like a logical conclusion. He knew about the Demon Tag Ritual. He knew about the existence of the Hell Gate. Now he had to find out what he could do to appease the spirits of the dead, and find his way to this Hell Gate. 

And maybe find time to rest, but he doubted that would ever be in his future. 

Pushing such selfishness away from his thoughts once again, Raidou scoured the room for anything that looked in any way useful. Notes on the rituals. A map to the Hell Gate. Anything could be considered “useful” at this moment. His standards had become shockingly low and he currently was not sure if he really cared. 

Unfortunately, he found nothing. 

Rolling his shoulders, Raidou moved to the door, sliding it open and moving back into the hall. He had internally mapped as much of the manor as he could, doing whatever he could to just make it through and into the next part, but it was a massive place. He took a right where he normally took a left, and the world opened up to another garden.

In a flash, the world seemed to light up. 

_The overhead sky was a bright, gorgeous blue, with the warm spring sunlight pouring down on him. The smooth stones were cold under his bare feet, and the sounds of the songbirds chittering and singing to one another filled his ears._

_He stood, frozen._

_He stood, frozen, staring._

_Someone yelled. Someone clasped their hand over his eyes and pulled him away._

_He could hear footsteps, the loud commotion of people around him. The same person covering his eyes picked him up, carrying him inside while his body refused to move. He had dropped the flower he had been holding. The one he had found and run through the house to find his mother. He wanted to show her…_

_...but she was in a tree._

_Eyes rolled in her head. Body limp. Unmoving._

_And he had just stared. He had stared. He didn’t call for help. He didn’t make a noise. He had just froze._

_“Johei--Johei what did you---”_

_“I told you, he is a curse on this bloodline!”_

_“Silence! Johei has done nothing wrong!”_

_People were yelling. People were screaming his name. He couldn’t see their faces. He was looking at them and their faces were just shrouded in fog. They were yelling at each other. Yelling at him._

_He was a useless child. He was a disgrace. He didn’t deserve--_

Raidou breathed. 

The sky overhead was black with the night, and the sound of the fountain running was all that filled the air. 

It wasn’t the same courtyard. It looked similar, but it was not the same. 

He brought a hand to his face, rubbing his eyes and trying to pretend that he was fine. He had to be. It was just a hallucination. That never happened. He had never been so useless. He wasn’t worthless. He wasn’t a disgrace and an utter shame. 

Setting the lantern down, Raidou moved to the fountain, cupping the water in his hands and first splashing his face to just see if that would draw his focus back to the present. It worked, but he still cupped his hands a second time to take a few precious sips. He was still human, and it had been two days, as Gouto had pointed out. He needed to be careful to conserve his energy. He didn’t know how much longer he would be stuck in this place. How much longer he would be trapped… 

“Um… Mister Summoner, something is coming!”

Raidou’s attention snapped to the door, where Mov Shovu was fluttering around with all the grace and fear of a sparrow. With the flick of a wrist, she was back in her kuda, and Raidou was perfectly still. 

“... my eyes…”

A pale hand grasped the doorway.

“...my eyes…”

Slowly she drifted into view, the gouged eyes and the horrific mask of the Blinded. Raidou felt his stomach twist as she seemed to just appear. He guessed that it was likely because she was a powerful spirit, that he was making noise and she found no rest in death. Actually, he doubted any of the dead here were resting. He just hadn’t seen many of them. But he had a terrible feeling that he was going to meet more than he ever wanted, and more than he ever bargained for. 

Raidou quietly moved his hand to his sword again, trying to determine how quietly he could draw it.

The noise, no matter how quiet he tried, instantly drew the Blinded’s attention. Her head snapped in his direction, and she lunged. He dove out of the way, rolling once in the dirt before landing on his feet, but her head was turned in his exact direction. Sound definitely drew her, and he was not sure he could actually move without making any sound. And he definitely did not want to touch her. 

He sucked in a sharp breath, swinging his blade the moment she drew close. The green lit up the garden, and she howled in pain. It was a sound that Raidou was sure he was never going to get used to, ever. He was going to hear it for weeks, he was sure of it. But now was not the time to hesitate. He needed to send her to eternal rest, like everything else.

Unlike with the other summoner, Raidou had to go on the offensive. And he did, with a fire in his eyes that heralded a great and powerful reckoning. He would not die and he would not lose. 

Three blinding bursts of light, three howls to the empty night sky, and three seconds of holding his breath. 

He watched her fade, he heard her scream once more and watched her ethereal body twist and twitch until it faded into starlight. That seemed to be the only way to free these souls, to just hunt them down. Raidou wasn’t sure he had the energy to do that. He wasn’t sure he realistically could do such a thing. He didn’t even know how many twisted dead were in a place like this. He couldn’t spend time counting either. 

As Gouto said, it had been two days.

Raidou rolled his shoulders, aware that his ankles were actively protesting such movement, and he deeply wanted to pull off his shoes and soak his legs in the fountain for a little while. Maybe just a few minutes. Maybe just a minute. Maybe just…

“Raidou, look.”

He lifted his head, looking where Gouto was pointed. 

There was a path to the far side of the garden. He had been so wrapped up in his own selfish wants to rest that he had not noticed it. 

Raidou took a breath and started down the path, finding it leading far deeper than he had anticipated, and looping around to a small shrine. Or an altar it looked like, covered from the elements, but he knew this was where he needed to go. 

He pulled the covering off, staring at the fragment of a mirror with a thick stone frame. 

He wasn’t sure what compelled him to touch it, but he did. 

The world dropped away from him again, and Raidou fell into nothingness. He couldn’t see, but there was nothing but coldness around him. A cold air, a wetness in his breath, and a feeling as though he was nothing anymore. That he was left behind.

That he was abandoned. 

No one would come looking for him…

He was the useless one… 

He didn’t deserve---

Raidou’s eyes snapped open. 

His entire body ached, as if he had been attacked. The air was cold, and he was shivering. He groaned softly, the world lit by very faint candlelight. His head rolled around, trying to see where he was, and he could see the faint, silvery glow above him of pale light in a perfect ring.

He was at the bottom of the well. 

With a groan, he forced himself up, bringing a hand to his head. Only his breath caught in his throat, and he stared with wide eyes.

There, like on his ankles the night before, were two ropes hanging from his wrists, slowly fading as he clapped a hand over his throat to keep himself from vomiting.


	4. Beneath The Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Growing closer to the Hell Gate, and the end of the curse, Raidou explores beneath the well in the hopes he can find some answers.

He had discovered, to his own detriment, that a few sips of water was not entirely enough to keep himself going now that he was on his third day - or night - of this investigation.

Raidou had not been able to find a way out of the well. Climbing the sides had proved fruitless, and no demon seemed to be able to find a rope or carry him up. That had meant several things that he was not looking forwards to. 

The plus side was that there was an elaborate network of tunnels under the well, and he had been roaming around them for what seemed to be forever. 

Gouto had managed to find a way down, courtesy of Mov Shovu carrying him in the most undignified way. It didn’t matter to Raidou, he was growing both weary and the lure of a warm bed was growing more and more in the forefront of his mind. But he had to get through this first, then he could have time to rest. 

There had been no convenient notes for him to find, but there had been more than a few interesting things. He still had the mirror fragment, carrying it around like it was a precious artifact, and in many ways it was. But he had found another piece of it, and if he were to be honest, Raidou was certain that there were at least two more pieces before it would be complete. He wasn’t sure why he knew, but he felt it. 

“You know, this is bigger than I thought it would be.” 

Raidou didn’t roll his eyes but he felt it deep in his mind. He was pretty sure even Tae didn’t think this was as big as it was when she first looked into it. He would have one intense story for her when he got back. 

When, not if. 

Failure was not an option.

“Are you sure the mirror is that important?”

Raidou nodded, reasserting that he knew it would be useful against the Rope Shrine Maiden. He was sure she had a name, but he couldn’t find any records when he was in the manor proper, and right now he was lamenting the water in his shoes and hoping that the pain in his wrists didn’t get worse. If he had to fight someone right now, he wasn’t sure he would be able to actually do more than swing the katana awkwardly and need braces to keep from furthering the damage. 

That was a problem for another time. 

The lanterns lead to another little alcove, and the smell of decay hit Raidou hard enough to make him falter. He looked, finding the decaying torso of what he assumed was a former sacrifice to this gate. It made his stomach turn, but he didn’t feel any sort of spirit connected. Maybe she had been allowed to die and pass on. 

Or be sacrificed and pass on to this Hell Gate. 

The glint of something shiny behind the corpse both caught his eye and made Raidou groan. He was not really a squeamish man, but it was never fun to go rooting around a rotting torso. Especially one that seemed to have been here, rotting under a well, for a long time. 

Taking a breath, Raidou reached his hand forwards, braced for the worst as he reached around the decaying fabric and ashen flesh to grasp the object. Sharp edge, cold to the touch. Part of him really just hoped that this was not some cursed object. 

Fortunately, it wasn’t. 

He pulled his hand back to another piece of the mirror, and Raidou breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Lifting it to the other pieces, he watched as the silver and stone seemed to mesh and meld together. And as he predicted, it seemed that there was one more piece to find. 

But even incomplete, he saw the vision in his mind.

_She was a young woman, maybe his age, with black hair in a white kimono._

_She was in isolation, her entire life in a cell, with only masked priests as her visitors and company, spending her entire existence to be purity and devoted to this… trapped life._

_She saw him, a young man with messy black hair in the garden, the first real person she had seen in ten years. She saw him, she held his hand, they spoke and laughed. Their love developed quickly, bright and radiant amid the gloom and sadness that seemed to hang over her life._

_She never saw him again._

_They told her that he had left, spoken behind masks with blood on their hands. They had killed him, for the crime of loving their sacrifice._

_She shattered the mirror, her emotions and her regrets all fading into the nothingness._

_They took her into the shrine, and ropes were fixed to her limbs and neck._

_They cranked the gears. They pulled and pulled until her body was torn and she was dead, a sacrifice upon the stone, another casualty._

_They tied the ropes to the gate, as they had done countless times before, to hold the Calamity at bay._

_But the Hell Gate roared. The ropes broke._

_There she was, complete, and livid. Her body fully formed, with ropes hanging from her, and with the Malice looming behind her._

_They all were torn asunder._

Raidou stumbled back, one hand on his head.

This was more intense than the other flashes he had seen, and this one he knew was not a memory of his own. The mirror was connected to her, likely the same one he saw shattered. But he understood, and his stomach twisted as he allowed his mind to dwell on such harsh similarities between his own memories. He remembered so many things, but his own past was not on trial.

To murder someone, and lie to her… he almost wished that he had known who those priests were, in order to--

No, he was not supposed to be a tool for revenge. He was the defender, the protector. He was not supposed to be someone so twisted. He was supposed to be better, to hold himself to a higher standard than other people. Revenge was selfish. Rest was selfish. He was selfish. 

“This tunnel looks like it leads up.” 

Raidou stopped, looking at the incline before him. He bent over slightly, peering up at what looked like light, and started on his way. His joints protested. The pain in his body was growing more and more, but he came out the other side to find himself inexplicably in front of the large shrine. He had no idea how he got there, but he was there now. 

That meant there was only one more thing to do, wasn’t there? 

He steeled himself, stepping right up through the open doors and into the shrine proper. 

When Raidou opened his eyes, he was on the floor of the shrine. Everything felt hazy, and he was not even sure what happened. He just remembered crossing the threshold, and darkness. There was no mistaking the pain around his neck, and the weight of a final rope against his chest. 

He scrambled to his feet, grabbing the mirror from the floor. There was nowhere to go now but into the depths. 

He would put an end to this, here and now.


	5. The Hell Gate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time for the final confrontation with Kirie, and the end of Himuro Manor.

The steps into the nothingness were long, and gave Raidou plenty of time to prepare. 

Even with Gouto on his heels, even with the pain that was growing in every step, his mind was already working. Which demons to summon. Which bullets to use - if any would be of any use - and there was some part of him that was frantic, trying to think of where the last piece of the mirror would be. He needed to find it, somehow he was sure it would help.

The air grew heavy with the smell of decay, the thick, overwhelming feeling of rot and a tainted sort of sensation that made the bile rise in this throat and his lips taste like copper. They were going into a cursed, horrific place, and he would be prepared.

The steps opened to stone, and under a cracked Torii gate Raidou passed into a massive chamber. There were two grand stones covered in wards, and he saw the Hell Gate before him. An unassuming, still stone gate without any hint of anything great or terrible behind it, but Raidou was not fooled, and could not be mistaken. This was exactly where he needed to be. 

And the chill that crept over him heralded the arrival of the maiden. 

Kirie. Her name was Kirie Himuro. 

Raidou forced himself to walk forwards, setting the unfinished mirror in an indentation in the stone, before he whipped around just out of Kirie’s frenzied lunge.

A burst of green light, and the entire chamber was lit by the fire of Gdon, the great tiger roaring as it lunged at the chaotic ghost. It bought Raidou time. The spirit could not curse the demon, and his fire was as potent as anything else, maybe strengthened by the presence of the Gate. Raidou was not sure, and he was not about to question this. Any breathing room he was given, he needed. He put distance between them, while Kirie was focused on the seemingly larger threat.

His weapon drawn, Raidou’s eyes searched the chamber, trying to find any hint, any hope that he could find the final fragment of the mirror. The chances of it actually being in the chamber were slim, but his luck had been worse before. 

Raidou circled behind Kirie, bringing the flashing blade down on the twisted Malice that was clinging to her. The screams, the yells, the outright fury shook the entire chamber, and she turned to lunge at him, giving Gdon the chance to strike with a mighty roar and a burst of flame. That was all he needed, to divert her attention, and keep diverting it.   
But he could not just distract her forever. 

The young summoner wasn’t sure how he saw it, how he found it, how he just… noticed it, but the light caught his eye, and he tore across the chamber as fast as his pained legs could carry him. It was there, wedged in a crevasse, a shining piece of glass. 

His arm reached for it, outstretched, grasping…

Only to be jerked back, as if there was a rope around his wrist. 

Raidou’s eyes went wide, staring in horror as his arm was jerked back, the rope becoming visible once again. One arm, and as he twisted his body to try to reach with his other hand, it too was pulled back. The katana fell from his hands as he was jerked away. He tried to look around, to see what was pulling him, something had to be. Something had to be. Kirie was still occupied with Gdon, and he doubted she had the power to do such a thing. That left…

The Hell Gate. 

His legs were pulled out from under him, and he was dragged on his knees back towards the open, gaping maw. This was not what happened to the other summoner, who had merely been torn apart. This was an active sacrifice, and he was not strong enough to pull free from it. 

Raidou struggled, trying to get one hand to his kuda, to grasp something, anything and anyone, he needed more than Gdon-!!

His fingers snapped down on a tube, and he flung it into the chamber. He didn’t know who it was, the flash of light coinciding with the tug of the rope around his neck, causing him to choke and gag as he was pulled closer to the gate. Another pull, and he nearly blacked out. Fighting was making it worse, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t fight back, he couldn’t see. His eyes started rolling towards the back of his head, his tongue hanging between his lips as he struggled for even the slightest breath--

\--then he heard Kirie scream. 

Not in the same way that she had once before, when she was simply slightly injured, but it was a pure cry of agony. 

The pressure on his limbs and body instantly released, and Raidou fell to the stone, coughing and gasping as he struggled to breathe again. The world still spun for a few seconds before he realized he was alive, that he had not been pulled into the Hell Gate and was lost forever. 

“Remember your duty.”

The voice he heard was familiar, and Raidou pushed himself up to see the little girl, in the gold and white kimono, standing in front of him. His weary eyes scanned the chamber, seeing Nebiros and Gdon standing by, the fully formed mirror shining a silver light across the stone. 

And Kirie, screaming as the Malice was being torn from her body. 

Well, Raidou was not going to make this process slow and painful. Had she not suffered enough? 

Grabbing up his katana, Raidou concentrated what little energy he had, and in one strong, glowing strike, evered the parasitic mass of the Malice from Kirie’s form. 

There was an unearthly howl, the Malice raging and roaring as it was reduced to nothingness. 

Raidou returned his demons to their tubes, standing alone before Kirie and the girl. Or maybe they were both Kirie, it was not his place to question at this very moment, he had many other things to be concerned with. 

“You must fulfill your duty.” The girl spoke again, to Kirie - no longer tainted, no longer twisted. 

Kirie looked at her, and then at the Gate. 

The spirit drifted towards it, severed ropes wrapping tightly around her body and binding her there once more. As it should have been, if it had not been tainted and cursed. Doomed to fail, but now to succeed. They only needed a little outside help. 

Raidou watched as the girl faded into a bright white light, flowing into the spirit of Kirie before the other spirit herself faded into nothingness, leaving the ropes only in her place.

“Summoner.”

Her voice rang in the chamber, and he listened.

“You will not find salvation, even after this. I pity you, Summoner. Break away from the burden on you, before you become like me.”

Raidou could only shake his head and turn away. 

It was a long ride back to the Agency, and Raidou was already mulling over what he would say, and what he would report in his head. Even as Gouto was asleep on his lap, Raidou found himself unable to do so. He was tired, but he could not sleep. He was starving, but food sounded like the worst idea he ever had. He really just wanted some warm tea and to go back to work. 

Rest was selfish. 

But maybe he could be a little selfish. 

Narumi found Raidou asleep on the couch the next morning, still in his wet clothes and aching bones. He shook his head, getting a dry blanket and covering the young man comfortably. 

They could talk about the case when he woke up.


End file.
